Monday, February 16, 2009

Love in the Glasshouse!



How appropriate that on Valentine's Day weekend, there were all sorts of signs of horticultural "activity" in the greenhouse!

First, the Mission Olive trees are blooming, which is really cool. Since I was raised in New England, olive trees aren't something I'm used to seeing in bloom (or seeing at all, for that matter). We got them last year to anchor two planted islands in the vegetable garden, and I dragged them inside for the winter. I've been told they'll be fine as long as the temps stay above 20 degrees, but these are one of those special plants that gets babied. The color of the tiny blooms is unbelievably intense, particularly against the olive green of the leaves. To give an idea of the bloom size, the leaves on these trees are only about 1-1/2 inches long. (The bottom picture, above)
The other plants that seem to have gone hormonally crazy are the Villages Lemon Trees.....check out the number of blossoms on that baby! (The top photo)

These two plants, the begonias that are shooting up new stems of blooms every day, the remedial amaryllis, and the walking irises are turning the greenhouse into a virtual floral festival! Eat your heart out, Atlanta Botanical Garden!

2 comments:

  1. I can almost smell that lemon tree! Why don't I have a lemon tree? Hmmmm, another trip to Logee's is in order.

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  2. These lemon trees were at Lowe's last season for about $12 each. Planted them outside in containers all summer, then dragged them inside, and they are now about 4 feet tall.

    Everyone seems to grow "Meyer Improved," but these seem to grow much faster and are definitely floriferous!

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